Archbishop Spalding high school football outlook

With the loss of Capital Gazette Communications Player of the Year Zach Abey and a handful of other starters, coach Kyle Schmitt must regroup his Archbishop Spalding football squad to life without their leader.

OFFENSE: With the loss of Capital Gazette Communications Player of the Year Zach Abey and a handful of other starters, Schmitt must regroup his squad to life without their leader.

"On the field, hopefully and eventually you can replace a guy like that," Schmitt said. "Zach was the toughest football player that I've coached going into year six. We won't be able to replace him with just one guy"

Rylan Sweetney, who was the second behind graduated 1,000-yard rusher Avery Simmons last year, along with Josh Chase, a South River transfer, and Mike Mancuso, Jr., are three runners that Schmitt feels really good about. C.J. Bradford, Brennon Dingle and David Harding lead a deep and solid group at wide receiver.

Chris Powell and Evan Fochtman each bring a different skill set at quarterback and are battling for the starting nod.

"We'll see who can get us in the right play and move the football," said Schmitt, who will deploy a pistol, zone read, no huddle offense. "That is going to be the most important thing. Who the kids rally behind, because they certainly rallied behind No. 11 (Abey) last year."

DEFENSE: The Cavaliers are not a two-platoon system, so maybe four or five kids may have to play both ways. They will try to keep the big guys on the line fresh with a rotation of a group of players. Some of the receivers, which Schmitt feels is his deepest position, will play in the defensive backfield as well.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Kyle Butts will handle the placekicking duties with the help of Zach Vance, who has a strong leg. Matt Longfellow will handle the punting chores again.

"Those kids do a really good job," Schmitt said. "They're very serious about it and take their jobs and their craft very seriously. It has been a big emphasis for us this year."

OUTLOOK: Schmitt and Spalding will field a very young team that has 16 seniors with three returning on offense and three returning on defense. Even though they do not have a lot of experience on either side of the ball, Schmitt feels they can carry on the winning Spalding tradition.

"When I came in as a coach, there was a standard set here by Coach (Mike) Whittles and the players that came before us," Schmitt said. "We are trying to build on a strong legacy of tough kids who work extremely hard and make it better."

Now knowing the level of competition played in the A Conference, Schmitt knows there are challenges and obstacles this team will face and must overcome.

"Challenging these kids both mentally and physically is not real hard, Schmitt said. "They answer the call pretty well."